The Tate brothers left Romania and face an active criminal investigation in Florida. This is what we know

CNN
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The misogynist self -proclaimed Andrew Tate and his brother tristan recently arrive In Florida, from Romania, where they face positions of trafficking in persons, they unearthed a fervor of concern and anger, and a criminal investigation at the state level.

Andrew Tate gained notoriety as an influential online and has accumulated a huge monitoring of sexist content about male domain. Previously they were prohibited from leaving Romania after being arrested in 2022 and accused of forming an organized criminal group and trafficking in persons.

The brothers, who have double American and British citizenship, left Romania on a private plane at the end of February after the Romanian authorities High travel restrictions About them.

The brothers have denied all bad actions, and Andrew Tate has made contradictory statements about X about their plans to return to Romania or stay in Florida. This is how we get here.

Andrew Tate, 38, has faced accusations of sexism, hate behavior and violence against women since he was withdrawn from the British reality program “Big Brother” in 2016 after a video arose that seemed to show him attacking a woman with a belt.

Tate turned to social networks, where he has cultivated a Following the followers – Many of whom are young men and children, promoting their concern of modern masculinity. His 36 -year -old brother, Tristan, also appeared in a British reality show, “Shipwrecked: The Island”, and has developed a person online similar to that of his brother.

Andrew Tate’s vitriolic content took him out of almost all social media platforms, but when the technological tycoon Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022, Tate’s account restored.

Musk is now a high profile advisor to President Donald Trump, and Tate has 10.7 million followers on the platform where he once said that women should “responsibility” of being sexually attacked.

Tate, a Trump’s vocal defender, often evokes the president’s name in his online diatribes.

“The Tates will be free, Trump is the president. The good old days have returned. And they will be better than ever. Wait, ”said Andrew Tate before in X.

Despite the reports that the Trump administration pressed the Romanian authorities to relieve the restrictions to the brothers, the White House officials have said that the United States government did not have a direct role in bringing the tasks to Florida. Romania Foreign Minister saying He did not face pressure to lift restrictions on social networks influencer.

When asked about Tates’ return to the United States, Trump said he knew nothing about it.

Tristan Tate said in a social media post on Friday that he plans to use his time in the United States to take a break and visit the family.

“I decided to take a little rest and breathe in my country of origin and meet with my family who has kept me. It has not been easy, “he said, referring to his legal problems abroad.

CNN has communicated with the Tate brothers and their representatives.

What charges face the brothers and where?

The Romanian authorities arrested the Tate brothers in December 2022 and placed them under police custody. Later they were placed under house arrest and then Judicial controlunder which they were not allowed to leave the country.

Romanian prosecutors accused the Tate brothers of forming an organized criminal group that extended by Romania, the United Kingdom and the United States, trafficing women and exploiting them sexually with physical violence and coercion.

Prosecutors have said that the Tate brothers recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely affirming wanting a relationship or marriage. Andrew Tate is also accused of raping one of the victims.

Last August, The Romanian authorities launched a separate investigation into the accusations of trafficking in minors and sex with a minor housed against the brothers. Andrew and Tristan Tate have denied all accusations of irregularities, with Andrew writing in X that the brothers “have always been innocent.”

In a statement issued after the brothers left the country, Romanian prosecutors said that only travel restrictions against the brothers had risen, while “all other obligations remain in force, including the requirement to appear before the judicial authorities every time they were convened.”

“Prosecutors in Romania exercise significant discretion,” said Joseph McBride, a lawyer who represents the brothers, CNN in an email. “The Romanian prosecutor, who had long demanded that the movements of Andrew and Tristan be restricted, decided to raise those restrictions for perfectly legitimate reasons.”

He added that the brothers “are here to stay.”

The brothers are also being investigated for accusations of rape and human trafficking in the United Kingdom, where they have also denied irregularities.

Four women in the United Kingdom filed a civil lawsuit against Andrew Tate, accusing him of rape and coercive control.

“We are disbelief and we are reaumatized by the news that the Romanian authorities have given pressure from the Trump administration to allow Andrew Tate to travel … to the United States,” women said in the statement It was previously shared With CNN.

The Tates presented a defamation suit In July 2023 against a Florida woman who accused them of human trafficking, rape and false imprisonment in Romania.

According to Craig Trocino, associate professor of Clinical Education at the Law Faculty of the University of Miami, clients, such as Andrew Tate, can often finance the “Salt the Earth” litigation. That may include the presentation of defamation demands against accusators or detractors, create legal challenges or use stagnant tactics aimed at distracting the original problem, he said.

Dipling an accuser, who may not have the resources to support a long legal battle, can also have a “chilling effect” in other alleged victims that are presented, Trocino said.

But wealth cannot isolate a person from responsibility if he has committed a crime, while prosecutors are doing their job, he added.

“The fact that you have a lot of money and a large platform does not mean that you get out of your way,” said Trocino. “Finally he updates.”

“I think my brother and I are largely misunderstood. There are many opinions about us, all the things that happen on us on the Internet, ”Andrew Tate told journalists outside Fort Lauderdale International Airport -Hollywood in Florida after arriving from Romania.

“It is supposed to be innocent until it is demonstrated that my brother and I are,” he said.

Days later, Florida’s attorney general James Uthmeier announced a Active criminal investigation In the brothers, led by the State prosecution office, and added that Florida has “zero tolerance for people who abuse women and girls.”

CNN has communicated with the Uthmeier office for more information about research.

“Today, Attorney General James Uthmeier threw Ethics Law through the window when he had one side in an ongoing lawsuit,” McBride said Tuesday X.

“When any prosecutor, even the attorney general of a jurisdiction as Florida, has reasons to believe that a crime has been committed or has currently committed, has every right to investigate,” said Troto. “They have no obligation to explain what research is while investigating it.”

Although few details have been published, the fact that the state prosecution office is involved suggests extensive investigation into the activity in multiple jurisdictions in the state, said Trocino.

Since then, the Tate brothers have signed up for the governor of Florida, Ron Desantis, who previously suggested that they were not welcome in their state, and Uthmeier to carry out the investigation.

“This comes from a lifelong criminal defense lawyer: to leave and say: ‘I am innocent until it is demonstrated that it is demonstrated, therefore, they cannot investigate me’, it is simply fundamental, legally and constitutionally incorrect,” said Trocino.

For Friday afternoon, Andrew Tate was publishing messages in X who suggested that he was in Las Vegas.

“Flee our jurisdiction will not stop the ongoing criminal investigation of Florida,” Uthmeier He said in X. “We will continue working with our application of the law and partners from all over the world to combat human trafficking and sexual abuse.”